Refrigerator



c. A. KETTERER.

REFRIGERATOR; APPLICATION FIILED 1u|.Y n.191a.

,Pa'tented'Au g. 24, 1920.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

' C. A. KETTERER.

REFRIGERATOR.

APPLICATION man JULY 11. 1918.

' Patented Aug. 24, 1920.

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UNITED STATES CHARLES A. KETTERER, OF EAST ST. LOUIS, ILLINOIS.

REFRIGERATOR.

Application filed July 11, 1918.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHAnLns A; Kn'r'rnnnn, a citizen of the United States, and resident of East St. Louis, in the county of St. Clair and State oi Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Refrigerators, of which the following is a specification, containing full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

My invention relates to improvements in refrigerator display boxes and has for its primary object a display box in which is located an ice receptacle and a plurality of air tubes for supplying the box with a cold dry A further object is to provide the ice receptacle of a refrigerator display box with an air circulation regulating means, so that the circulation of air can be regulated according to the outside surrounding temperature.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a box with my device in position.

Fig. 2 a top View of the container lid, showing the circulation regulating valves or dampers.

Fig. 3 is a cross section of the ice and brine containers, showing the air circulating tubes and valves.

Fig. 4: is a top plan view of one of the short circulating tubes made use of.

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view of the same.

Fig. 6 is a section through the cover of the ice container, showing the lip opening extending into the air circulation tube with the valve or damper in section.

In carrying out my invention, I provide a refrigerator case 8 which is insulated from the outside atmosphere in any well known manner. Within the case I provide a sec tion 9 in which the ice receptacle is located. The portion 10 of the box is separated from the portion which contains the ice receptacle by means of a sheet of reticulated material 11 and a splash apron 12. The object of these are to prevent food stuffs from falling into the compartment designed for the ice receptacle. In the bottom of the compartment 9, I place a drip pan 13, which is provided with the usual out-let pipe 14, so that the waste water may be carried away. The ice receptacle consists of a plurality of angle irons 15 to which is attached a bottom 16,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 24, 1920.

Serial No. 244,395. I

which has two of its sides sloping and the others being vertical, thereby forming a brine chamber or receptacle 17. In this chamber 17 are securely attached the long air circulating pipes 18, which pipes extend upward through the ice chamber to the lid of the container, and the short pipes 19 extending onlyin the brine chamber. These air circulating pipes consist of the outer pipe 20 and the intermediate pipe 21 and an inner pipe 22, the pipes 20 and 21 being separated from each other by means of a corrugated pipe 23, and the pipes 21 and 22 being separatedwith a similar corrugated pipe 2 1-; The upper ends of the pipes 20 terminate at a point on the line with the upper edge 25 of the receptacle 17, the upper edge 26 of the pipes 21 terminating a short distance above the upper edge of the outer pipes and the upper edge 27 of the center sections extend beyond the edge 26 of the pipe 21.

In the central section are a series of pipes 19 and located within the pipe 22 I provide an X 01" wires 28 on which rests a washer 29, the object of which is to prevent the entrance of ice into the central tube 22. In the side or outertubes' 18, the central pipe 22 extends upwardly until it contacts with the lid 28 of the ice receptacle. This lid is provided with perforations 2%, the inner edges of which are bent downwardly to form a lip 30, which enters these extended tubes. Over the openings 29 and pivotally connected to the lid, I mount valves or dampers 30, these dampers being provided with a series of graduated openings 31 and a projection 82 by means of which the dampers can be moved, so as to regulate the opening for the admission or" air into the extending pipes 22.

Attached to the angle irons 15, I secure horizontal angle irons 33, on which rests a sheet of reticulated material 84:. On the outside of the angle irons 15 are secured plates 35. These plates and the reticulated material form the ice chamber, there being a space between the ice chamber and the brine chamber, amounting to the thickness of the metal in the angle irons. This ice chamber is filled with crushed ice and salt and the resulting brine is allowed to drip into the brine chamber 17. The circulation of air is shown by the arrows in F ig. 1, by which it will, be readily seen as the air becomes warm in the display chamber it rises and passes through the openings 29 and pipes 22 and lows 2O 7 again becomes chilled. In the event that the air in the box becomes too dry, I. rovide a pair of S shaped gutters 86, w ich are hung over the vertical sides of the brine chamber and willallow frost to form on the lower portions of the brine chamber, thereby supplying a suflicient amount of moisture to the box. V

The brine receptacle 17 is provided at its bottom with the valve 38, the purpose of which is to drain the brine from the receptacle and also to serve as an outlet when the receptacle 1'? is being cleaned. The pipes 21 and 22 as well as the corrugated pipes 23 and 24L are prevented from sliding downward into the pipe by means of a bar or rivet 37 extending through the pipe 20. V The operation of my device is as fol- The ice chamber is filled with crushed ice and salt and the resulting brine allowed to drip through the openings in the I. reticulated bottom 34, until the brine chamher has become filled to its capacity. Any additional brine dripping into the receptacle 17 will overflow 'its sides, as well as 7 enter the outer pipes 20. This brine will cut off or melt any congealed moisture which will form in the pipes or on the sides of the brine receptacle in the shape of frost.

Some of the brine dripping through the reticulated sheet 34 will drip into and flow around the corrugated pipes 22 and 23 and out off any congealed frost which may form thereon, and around the pipes 18 and 20. In the central pipes, the washer 29.will prevent small particles of ice from dropping therein, but at the same time allow brine to enter this pipe and cut off. frost.

It has been found by the use of my device, that at times the box becomes too dry, in other words, cold air admitted does not 1 contain suflicient moisture to'keep the articles in the box in proper condition. WVhen this is the case, I make use of the S shaped gutters 36 which will carry off the brine flowing over the vertical sides of the box, and allow frost to form on these vertical sides, thereby supplying my refrigerator with sufficient moisture. The amount of this moisture can be regulated by the length of the gutter or by putting'the gutter on only one side of the device. Whenever the flow of air through the box becomes too rapid, I may either close off the openings 29 which lead into the extended pipes 22 entirely, or by means of the graduated openings in the dampers, check this flow until the desired circulation has been reached. The central openings 29 in the lid remain. open at all times, but if foundnecessary these may also be provided with dampers without departingfrom the spirit of my invention.

Having fully described my invention what I claim is 1. refrigerator comprising a storage compartment, an air cooling compartment located adjacent thereto, air circulating tubes located in the cooling compartment and communicating with the storage compartments, slide valves for regulating the flow of air through the tubes, and means for removing the congealed moisture from the-bottom 'of'the cooling compartment.

2. A refrigerator comprising a storage compartment a refrigerator receptacle lo cated adjacent thereto, said receptacle having an ice compartment and a brine compartment, the compartments being separemoving congealed moisture from the tubes and bottom of the cooling compartment, and means for regulating the amount of moisture supplied to the storage compartment. 1

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of a subscribing witness. r

' CHARLES A. KETTERER. Witness:

W. C(STEIN. 

